Allegory
by Vermillion Dragonfly
Summary: He'd tried so hard to forget because she was gone. Or so he thought. Now there was she was, asleep in his bed. AU DaveJade
1. cascade

_A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Hope you enjoy it ~_

_Disclaimer: All rights go to their respective owners._

i. cascade

* * *

"1025 Beat Mesa Street."

Jade jumped at the driver's sudden declaration. She had gotten so lost in watching the rain splatter upon the window that she hadn't been paying attention. Really, she should have checked the weather before coming, but she didn't think Texas got a lot of rain.

"Thank you sir," She chirped, paying the man, "Have a happy Valentine's Day!" She got out of the cab, holding her hands above her head in a desperate attempt to protect herself from the rain as she peered through the darkness. It was a very last minute urging that led her here; into the dark and unforgiving Texas rain. Really, if John wasn't such a supportive brother and if Rose wasn't such a great friend she didn't think she would've had the nerve to see him again after such a long time. Especially when Valentine's Day was looming on the horizon.

Once inside, she peered at the piece of paper she'd taken from her purse, "Room…413?" She saw a door that led to a flight of stairs, and took a deep breath. Oh, why did he have to live on the fourth floor? The stairwell was dimly light, the inky black pressing in on the windows making it even more eerie. Jade couldn't help but giggle as she thought about him going up and down these stairs every day, probably to do something really ridiculously cool.

By the time she arrived at the fourth floor, her invigoration had been replaced by an onset of nerves. It had been years since she last saw a certain coolkid, but after a quick assurance on Pesterchum by Rose, Jade felt much better. Rose would've picked her up, but she had already had Valentine's Day plans with her fiancée Kanaya. Gosh, it was so hard to believe that they were all adults already.

She swallowed as she arrived at apartment 413. Jade took a final deep breath and knocked. They were the only two that had stopped talking to each other. John still spoke to him and Rose every day. Jade blamed it a lot on regret, and of course, he always seemed too busy with coolkid things. And then, they had stopped talking at all. Until John and Rose urged her to reconnect with him, after Rose's insistence that he wasn't really as busy as he claimed. But then, where was he?

He wasn't answering. Was he not home? Maybe he was asleep? She knocked again. No reply. Jade frowned, checking Pesterchum on her phone. He appeared to be online. She bit her lip. No, she would send him a message anyway.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 21:15 –

GG: hey dave! :) its jade!

GG: in case you forgot heehee

GG: so this might come to you as a shock but

GG: im in texas right now!

GG: i wanted to visit you and rose! It's been foooorever ):

GG: i didn't think youd be busy right now but i guess i was wrong :o

GG: maybe later we could hang out!

GG: im sure youre even cooler than the last time we saw each other :)

GG: see you soon!

- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 21:25 –

As she turned around to approach the stairwell, her phone suddenly vibrated with an incoming new message. She took a step, examining her phone eagerly to see if it was him, when suddenly she felt her balance teeter…

- tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 21:27 –

TT: Jade, please enlighten me as to your status.

TT: You must tell me Dave's reaction to your presence. John and I are betting on this, thus it is of vital importance you tell me.

TT: …

TT: Jade?

gardenGnostic [GG] disconnected.

TT: …

TT: This is not good.

- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 21:48 –


	2. reunion

ii. reunion

* * *

It was exactly 3:14 (and 13 seconds) in the morning. Dave always had this little quirk in which he could tell time down to the exact second. Rose had an entire book dedicated to psychoanalytical theories of how this idiosyncrasy came to be, but he had never read it.

The nightclub had just closed, and he was on his way home from his job. He had a gig as DJ, of course, but that didn't mean he didn't spend some time macking on some girls and being as cool as Dave Strider could be – which was so off the charts fucking Buzz Lightyear couldn't reach it. But even he needed to sleep, though the fact that it was now technically Valentine's Day meant that there would be hilarious bullshit Lifetime movies on TV.

Despite the lack of a working elevator and the shady as fuck murder scene-esque stairwells, the apartment itself was the perfect bachelor pad. After walking in the door he went right to his room, completely bypassing the living room and kitchen. He noted that a light was on, but figured that the environment could wait until he got some sleep to turn it off. He barely made it across the threshold before he froze. There was a figure on his bed. Approaching it, he lifted his shades just for reaffirmation as to who the person turned out to be.

Jade. Jade as in the Jade whom he had fallen in love with and had been too scared to tell. Jade as in the Jade who he let slip out of his life because he was trying too hard to keep up this 'cool' façade that only she wholeheartedly believed.

"The fuck…" No, keep cool. He straightened out his surprise into a poker face and walked over to her. She had a wristband that called his attention and seemed to have dark splotches on her body; Dave only surmised that Rose had invited her here and taken her to some grimdark poetry café. She was, after all, the only other person who had the keys to his apartment.

After going through his closet and taking out an ironic Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff blanket, he set the blanket on top of Jade and made a beeline towards his kitchen. And there Rose was, flipping through a book with a half-made scarf lying on the table. He could only wonder how long she'd been here; she looked alright, if a little tired. Instead of a smirk, like Dave was expecting, she looked up from her book with an angry expression.

"What's with the angry face, sis?" He asked coolly, "You come here and waltz into my apartment like Mr. T after a night of grimdark emo poetry shit and -"

"That's not where we were, Dave," Rose interjected, closing her book and setting it down at the table. He was just about to spit some rhymes, and she cut him off? Harsh. She placed her hand on a knitting needle. "I took Jade to the hospital." A flicker of confusion ran through his features as he sat down, agitated. Sure, they hadn't talked in about four years, but that didn't mean he didn't care about her. Even if he pretended that he didn't. He always asked John how she was doing, and though he would urge him to talk to her, he never did. He'd been too afraid that Jade would see him for the loser he knew he was inside.

The dark splotches on her body hadn't been grimdark make-up. They'd been bruises. And the wristband? It wasn't some weird entrance bracelet, it was one from the hospital. The hospital which was right near his apartment. So, that was why they were in his apartment. But why was Jade in Texas? It was then that he took out his phone and saw that she had indeed tried to contact him. He swallowed a growing lump in his throat.

"I assume she will be okay in your care, then?" Rose stood up, putting on her rain jacket. Dave stared at her through his shades, until his sister added, "Whatever you want to ask me, you can ask her when she wakes." She stood up and then poked a needle in his chest. "This is infinitely inevitable, though I will remind you to not to do anything idiotic. My wrath will be the _least_ of your worries, Dave."

"Ouch, I might need some ice with that burn. Call my inner Vanilla Ice to kick it like Antarctica cool. My own sister doesn't trust me?"

"Jade is my best friend, and you are an idiot. Perhaps I was underestimating your intelligence in your ability to answer that question. However, it's 3am and you two have four years and seven months of catching up to do. Or was it eight?" With that, Rose packed her things, took her umbrella, and left.

Dave spent the next thirty-one minutes alternating between checking up on Jade, getting a laugh out of shitty hour-long infomercials, and contemplating if he should plug a game in. Though, his mind always drifted back to Jade. To Rose's correction, it'd been four years and _six_ months since the last time they had genuinely had a conversation, those meaningless Pesterlogs aside. He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to recollect their conversation to pinpoint where exactly it'd gone wrong.

_Like always, Jade dropped her bags and ran right towards him. The first time he was caught off guard by her hugs, having been tackled to the floor. This time, he swung her around as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, John in the background laughing as Rose smirked. The airport security, and people around, also smiled as they saw the two._

_"Hey, coolkid!" She grinned as he set her down. He tried to keep a straight face, but the corner of his mouth tugged upwards in a smile. _

_As he picked up her luggage because he learned at least that much from Southern hospitality, he offered a nonchalant, "'Sup."_

_"Did Jade tell you?" John bounded over to them, clapping a hand on his sister's shoulder. "She got accepted into MIT! Full scholarship, too!" For a split second, Jade's face overcame with panic as she glanced at Dave, unreadable as always._

_"That's your dream school, right?" Dave asked, remembering her talking about the college via Pesterlogs. Jade was a brilliant girl, wanting to major in Physics or something equally as science-y. Dave wasn't stupid, but Rose certainly got the intelligence in the family. And the sarcastic bitchiness, if you asked for his honest opinion._

_She smiled, "Yeah, but you know…I was accepted into UT Austin, too! They have a good science program." John and Rose were talking about their own college acceptances. Dave had no real desire to go to college; he hadn't applied anywhere and was just planning on doing his own thing. _

_He sighed, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "Come on, Jade, not going to MIT is like Michael Jordan after he retired from the NBA the first time around. Do you want to be like Michael Jordan and have a not-so-spectacular finish to your college years?" He had wanted to be supportive; he knew her dreams. He also knew he meant a lot to her, but if she was close by, she would one day see that his Strider cool was just a façade. But what he didn't know was how much his words affected her._

_Despite the twinge of pain Jade felt, she laughed and scrunched her nose, "No, not really!" She looked away from him, lacing her hands behind her back. She had hoped his response would be different, that he would want her to go to Texas and be near him. But he was too cool for her; what had she been thinking? She was just a nerdy science girl who happened to be a sure shot in a firing range. Besides, maintaining a friendship online would be easy! No matter how busy they both became, they wouldn't stop talking. _

Something soft was on his cheek. Something soft that kind of tickled…wait, what? He must've fallen asleep. Cracking open an eye, he was startled by a figure looming over him. For a moment, he completely forgot his surroundings and jolted upwards, ready to strife. He relaxed, however, when he realized it was Jade standing over him, her long hair caressing his cheek.

He took a deep breath, sitting up and adjusting his shades. "Fuck, Jade, you almost killed me." Classy first words to a girl he hadn't seen in four years. Jade was probably the only person who thought he was as awesome as he claimed to be, and he wasn't going to ruin that for her. Or at least, he was trying.

She giggled, "Hello to you too, coolkid!"

He got up and gestured for her to follow him to the kitchen. As the light encompassed her, Dave's expression twitched. Despite the bruises dotting her body, she was beautiful. He opened the fridge and handed her one of his bottles of apple juice. "Take some. C'mon, you know I don't let just anyone dent my apple juice stock. Don't reject a cool dude."

She smiled and took his offer, sitting down at the table. "I guess I must be special, then!"

_'You've always been special,'_ Dave thought, taking a bottle of apple juice as well and sitting across from her. He took a sip, staring at her through his shades until he decided he wouldn't ask her anything. He'd read the Pesterlogs. She wanted to hang out with him after a long time from seeing each other. Why bog her down with questions? Sure, he wanted to know why she had been to the hospital, but it was obviously a bad experience that sent her there.

But, it was almost five in the morning. Though he was tired, he didn't want to just throw a pillow at her and tell her to go to sleep. But what was open this early? "Stay there," He commanded, going into the guest bedroom. Why Rose didn't plop Jade down here was beyond him – well, he wouldn't have noticed her until morning that way. He opened the closet that contained some of Rose's things. There were a few nights where she stumbled into his apartment, drunk – taking after their mom. He grabbed one of Rose's dresses that he thought would look good on Jade; it was black with green hemming, and it was awfully sparkly. Walking back to her, he threw the dress at her. "Put that on, 'k?"

"Um…" She looked at the dress, and back at him. "…Alright." She took the dress and brushed past him, an awfully confused expression on her face as she headed to his room.

Before she entered, he gently grabbed her elbow, causing her to turn and look at him. "You can use the bathroom over there," He stated, gesturing over to where it was. To his surprise, Jade was bright pink as she scurried off to the bathroom. Shrugging a shoulder, he went into his room and closed the door. Setting down his shades to change into a suit, he walked back outside with a vague sense that he was forgetting something. Brushing it off, he meandered over to the bathroom to hear what sounded like a battle between dress and Jade.

He knocked on the door, "Yo, Jade, you didn't get sucked down the toilet did you?"

When she laughed, he smiled. Her laugh sounded the same. "Um…actually, I'm having trouble zippering it up." Sigh. Girl problems.

"Open up, time for Dave Strider to save the day," He said, and once he heard the door unlock he stepped inside. As he stepped toward her, he noted that she was looking down at the floor. Gently placing one hand on her bruising back, he zippered up the dress with ease, flushing as his knuckles brushed across her back. '_Keep it cool, Strider,_' He coached himself. He stepped back as she spun around.

"How do I -" She froze, her jaw dropping. "Dave…" He would've admired how she looked in the dress, but her stare was unnerving him slightly.

"Stop giving me those Lil Cal eyes, Jade. You're freaking me out."

"This is the first time I've seen you without your shades, Dave." _Fuck,_ so that's what he forgot. She stepped closer to him, her eyes locked onto his as he felt his face heat up. He was about to back away from her, when she grabbed onto his hand and said, "Your eyes are so pretty, Dave! You shouldn't wear your shades so much!"

Well, that was the first compliment he'd received about his eyes. Then again, he hardly ever took off his shades. "Didn't know you worked for 20/20 Eyeglass Superstore. …Thanks for your expert opinion, Jade."

She then closed the space between them in one stride, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Not talking to me for so long was very uncool, coolkid," She mumbled, burying her head into his chest. As he wrapped his arms around her, he thought he felt her shaking. Was she…crying? Just as he was about to say something, he heard a soft mumble. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he heard her say, "I missed you too much."

He paused, not knowing what to say. It was when he found the words that he realized he had been stroking her hair subconsciously. And then, he gathered up the words and mumbled back, "Yeah, me too." Though Dave had an acute sense of time, in that embrace, they were both timeless.

Timeless, for just a short while.

She released him and looked up at him; her eyes a little red from crying. But, she was smiling. "Ah, my eyes are so red…I'm sorry," She rubbed her eyes, turning away from him.

"Hey, Jade, not cool. I'm the only one allowed to complaining about having red eyes, alright? Don't steal my thunder, man. Zeus ain't having none of your shit."

She started to laugh, and then gestured to the dress she was wearing. "So, Mr. Strider, why are we all dressed up?"

"It's 5am, we're going to get some damn pancakes."


	3. timeless

iii. timeless

* * *

Dave had learned that Jade had slipped down the stairs. He learned that because after they left the room, she showed great hesitance in going down the stairwell. He had to hold her hand the entire way down. Jade was not a weak girl, but even she needed help sometimes.

They were on their way to a restaurant that was open all hours of the day, called _God Tier's Gourmet._ The food wasn't gourmet or 'god tier', but Dave loved it for the irony. Besides, the food wasn't awful either, though the people operating it were a bunch of quacks. They were dressing up for the occasion, but that was the entire point. Besides, it added to the irony. Jade was enjoying acting like a queen, while Dave took the dutiful position as her knight. He didn't mind, seeing as how she was grinning the whole time like a dope.

They entered the restaurant, a perky girl named Nepeta being their waitress for the morning. The restaurant was almost completely empty, save for a couple in the corner.

When they sat down, it was apparent that Nepeta was not paying attention as they ordered. Jade found it amusing, and finally after they ordered she asked, "Could you repeat the order back to me?"

The waitress looked up at them and frowned, "Purlease, my Shipping Pad is impurrtant! It's almost purrfect..." She showed them the pad. It was a very crude drawing of the both of them, with a giant heart over their heads. ':33 lovfurs' was written over the top.

"Oh my god," Dave breathed in exasperation, but Jade loved it. She asked to keep it, to which Nepeta said she'd draw another one.

"I'll put in an order fur mew! Furwell!" The girl purred, running off shouting, "Equihissss~"

As the girl ran away, Dave looked back at Jade and decided to keep it casual and have the topic center around something neutral. "So, how's your bro?"

"John?"

"No, Jade, I'm talking about Rumpelstiltskin, your other brother."

"Hehe. Well, John's with Vriska in Las Vegas!" She chirped. Yeah, Dave figured as much. Big brother John would've been in Texas faster than newscasters could announce a hurricane if he heard Jade was in the hospital. Which, by the fucking way, was really fast. Like even Usain Bolt could catch that shit. That's how fast it was. "Actually, the flight he was scheduled for was overbooked and because they had to move his flight to a later date…they gave him air miles!"

Dave looked at her suspiciously. He forgot that he wasn't wearing his shades (on Jade's insistence, and she had the best _damn_ puppy-dog face in the world), thus he covered up his expression quickly. Without them, he felt more vulnerable. But Jade didn't seem to care about that. "Enough to get you to Texas? You could've visited the Great Wall and highfived some Terracotta soldiers but instead you came to see me. Hell yeah, Jade, nice choice."

Nepeta strolled by and delivered their pancakes. One of them was heart shaped, while the other was cat shaped, and another horse shaped. "Enjoy your purrfect pancats!"

They ate mostly in silence. At least, Dave did. He noticed after finishing his second pancake that she had only cut into the heart-shaped pancake.

"You know…" She started, "For graduate school, I'm looking at a school in Texas."

Dave almost choked. She _what?_ Way to drop a bomb, Jade. He thought back to four years ago. After all that time, Jade still wanted to be near him? No matter where she went, he knew she would be successful. But even now, he unintentionally drove her away. "It's dry as hell down here. It's like fucking Sahara. We do tribal dances to bless the rains down in Africa, and by Africa I mean Texas but they're both so damn hot they might as well be synonymous."

Jade slammed down her utensils and stood up, shooting him a glare that eventually softened as she spoke. "Ugh, you lousy coolkid…! Don't you understand that I just want to be with you?" The confession drew a squeak from a furiously scribbling Nepeta.

He felt his chest tighten. He stood up, moving over to her. Without saying a single word, he drew her close to him and touched their foreheads together. "I love you, Jade." Jade closed the remaining distance between their lips and kissed him.

Once again, they were timeless.


End file.
